Crows Continue, Power Trip

Adelaide have demolished Port in the annual Showdown, beating their fierce rivals by 51 points.

While Port were competitive early, the Crows ran away with the result, despite the suspension of Taylor Walker for a hit on Richmond’s Steve Morris.

The injury-ravaged Power were no match for the revived Crows, who ended up beating them by double their score.

Ruckman Sam Jacobs’ gargantuan day at the office was undoubtedly the highlight of the match – his record-breaking 61 hit outs (beating this seasons record by 6 and being the best registered since Champion Data started recording) even out-starring Ricky Henderson’s heroic 6 goal performance.

With Shaun McKernan and Kurt Tippett both eliminated from the game early, it took Henderson’s unlikely break-out performance to drive the Crows to outscore their opposition.

While Matt Lobbe obviously had a day to forget at AAMI, winning just 12 hit outs, Paul Stewart was the Power’s version of an unlikely hero – booting a superb four goals and filling in admirably for the injured Jay Schulz.

Despite Port hanging in for the first portion of the game, the result was never in doubt past the first half of the first quarter.

A shoot out between Henderson and Stewart, John Butcher and Brad Ebert ensured that Port saw a glimmer of hope in the third after being down by 5 goals at half time, but the rampant Crows barely had to light the after-burners as they blew Port away to lead by 6 goals at quarter time and over 9 when the final siren rang.

Scott Thompson continued a remarkable season by accumulating 32 disposals, while Travis Boak – whose future remains uncertain with interest coming from, among others, Geelong and Melbourne – racked up 25 touches and a goal.

Brodie Martin snagged three majors for Adelaide, while Tim McIntyre joined esteemed ranks by scoring his first of two goals with his first kick in AFL football.

Nathan van Berlo was once again impressive with 26 touches, while Matthew Wright led the way for Adelaide with 8 tackles and Michael Doughty 6.

After the game, Crows coach Brenton Sanderson focused his contention on the farcical AFL video review system, which also got a pounding from Eddie McGuire during the Melbourne and Richmond game earlier in the afternoon, expressing his frustration at the tediousness of the procedure.

Matthew Primus, meanwhile, found himself and his team under the blowtorch once again, calling the performance unacceptable. Assuming a brave face afterwards, he did claim that he believed that the club was headed in the right direction and was not worried about what the opportunistic football media would say in the foreseeable future.

With the Power failing to record win number 5 for 2012, it was the Adelaide Crows who continued their fantastic season and now find themselves equal at the top of the ladder with Collingwood, West Coast and Sydney.